Computers On 24/7

[killians45]

I would put your monitor in power save mode. Its not something that will blow quickly, unless its a piece 'o crap, but the MTB failure increases the more power is cycled. Anything that is electric will have this problem. You DONT want to leave the monitor ON because you have other issues with pixel death, etc. Just use power save mode, that will retain some heat, not as much decay time on the components and will save images.

 

[killians45]

oh, and to let you know you DO want to at least restart on occasion or let it power down overnight, just to clear any TSR memory programs and what not. Otherwise mem and VM problems occur, the frequency depends on what it is running in there and how poor it is written.

 

[killians45]

also monitors tend to use a higher resistance capacity and so is more robust. its pretty power hungry, so unless flawed or surges occur often, they will still last a long time even if powered off often. The biggie is the MB and other internal and touchy components..

 

[Ares]

Hmmm. Some interesting points.

My old pc got to experience the extreme side of this scenario. I had it for 6 years (still have it now) and on any given day it would be on and off, on and off. Sometimes i'd turn it on and off a dozen times in a day. This doesn't include the regular reboots i'd have to go through every half an hour. Even just recently (before i built my new one) i counted 16 reboots in a 6 hour period.

Anyway, it was on and off all the time and i never experienced any problem with anything dieing on it (except the hd did give out eventually). The cpu fan was always a piece of garbage so that didn't count.

The monitor is another issue. It has a huge brown spot in the back upper part of the case where the heat is eating through it. This, i'd say, is definitely due to it being on alot, in addition to it being a cheapo monitor.

 

[killians45]

well, like I said its all a matter of imperfections and quality. Besides the point, ANY electronic device will display that problem of thermal deterioration. When it heats, it expands. When its off, it contracts. Think of it like when a sidewalk eventually cracks due to changing off seasons. Thats why you see those slits in sidewalks, so they can expand and contract with the least amount of stress. However, eventually even nature will have its toll, much like with electric components. It WILL eventually fail, and its usually due to that.

 

[HoLoCroN]

Good points of view and practices everyone.

In summary, go ahead and leave your PC on unless you you have to shut it off for any reason out of the norm.

Setup your monitor power setting (or setup a screensaver) so 1) you don't wast too much power or 2) you dont burn an image on your monitor.

 

[Ares]

Hey this brings up a good topic, something somewhat related. Thanks Holocron. This is something i've always wondered and never really researched or bothered to find out about. Here goes...

What is a screen saver supposed to save your screen from? Again, my old pc conditioned me. I could never use them on my old computer because it couldn't handle them. It would always cause way too many windows errors. Now i've got a new computer more than capable of handling them.. i sit here and ask myself... gee... should i use em? I wouldn't even know what to do with 'em if i started! LoL. I'm like the one guy in the world who has never ever used them, except for maybe the first few weeks when i first got my old computer long long time ago. I really have never used them other than that.

So what's the theory or principal in using a screen saver to "save your screen"?

 

[alienAntFarm]

i leave mine on 24/7 its cool

 

[cas0496]

I leave mine on 24/7.

Screen savers have two purposes. One, they are used for security purposes. You can set a password for your screen saver and if you are away from your computer for a few minutes then the screen saver will kick in. If you move the mouse (to stop the screen saver) then you are prompted for a password.

Two, they prevent screen burn. If an image is constant on your monitor then that image will eventually "burn"into your monitor and you will constantly see that "ghost" image at all times. A screen saver prevents a 'constant' image on your screen by placing moving images on your screen at a set idle time.

I don't know if this applies to the new flat panel monitors. I don't know if they get screen burn or not.

 

[Slam'n Systems]

My computer is on everyday except when I goto Design and Drawing for Production class monday-friday which is like 5 hours a day. Except I do keep it on whenever someone would be home (I dont trust my electrical outlet that much ) but everynight it's on! I like starring at the 4 Red and Blue LED's inside! lol